SOFTWARE QUALITY AND

RELIABILITY
DIGITAL ASSIGNMENT – 2

Explain how software quality metrics are categorized.

The first classification category distinguishes between life cycle and other phases of the software
system:

Process metrics are related to the software development process

Product metrics are related to software maintenance

The second classification category refers to the subject of the measurements:

 Quality
 Timetable
 Effectiveness
 Productivity

Process metrics
Process metrics are measures of the software development process, such as

Overall development time

Type of methodology used

Their intent is to provide indicators that lead to long-term software process improvement

Types:

Software process quality metrics

Software process timetable metrics

Error removal effectiveness metrics

Software process productivity metrics

Software process quality metrics

Software process quality metrics can be classified into:

 Error density metrics

 Error severity metrics

Error density metrics

Describes six different types of metrics. Calculation of error density metrics involves two
measures:

Software volume measures: Some density metrics use the number of lines of code while
others apply function points.

Errors counted measures: Some relate to the number of errors and others to the weighted
number of errors.

Error severity metrics

The metrics belonging to this group are used to detect adverse situations of increasing
numbers of severe errors in situations where errors and weighted errors, as measured by
error density metrics, are generally decreasing.

Software process timetable metrics

Software process timetable metrics may be based on accounts of success (completion of milestones
per schedule) in addition to failure events (non-completion per schedule).

An alternative approach calculates the average delay in completion of milestones.

The TTO and ADMC metrics are based on data for all relevant milestones scheduled in the project
plan. In other words, only milestones that were designated for completion in the project plan stage
are considered in the metrics’ computation. Therefore, these metrics can be applied throughout
development and need not wait for the project’s completion.

Error removal effectiveness metrics

Software developers can measure the effectiveness of error removal by the software quality
assurance system after a period of regular operation (usually 6 or 12 months) of the system.
The metrics combine the error records of the development stage with the failures records compiled
during the first year (or any defined period) of regular operation

Software process productivity metrics

This group of metrics includes “direct” metrics that deal with a project’s human resources
productivity as well as “indirect” metrics that focus on the extent of software reuse.

Software reuse substantially affects productivity and effectiveness.

Product metrics
Product metrics refer to the software system’s operational phase – years of regular use of the
software system by customers, whether “internal” or “external” customers, who either purchased
the software system or contracted for its development. In most cases, the software developer is
required to provide customer service during the software’s operational phase.

Product metrics categories

HD quality metrics

HD productivity and effectiveness metrics

Corrective maintenance quality metrics

Corrective maintenance productivity and effectiveness metrics.

HD quality metrics
HD calls density metrics – the extent of customer requests for HD services as measured by the
number of calls.

Metrics of the severity of the HD issues raised.

HD success metrics – the level of success in responding to these calls. A success is achieved by
completing the required service within the time determined in the service contract.

HD productivity and effectiveness metrics

Describes six different types of metrics.

Some relate to the number of the errors and others to a weighted number of errors.
As for size/volume measures of the software, some use number of lines of code while others apply
function points.

Corrective maintenance quality metrics

Software corrective maintenance metrics deal with several aspects of the quality of maintenance
services. A distinction is needed between software system failures treated by the maintenance
teams and failures of the maintenance service that refer to cases where the maintenance failed to
provide a repair that meets the designated standards or contract requirements.

Classifications:

Software system failures density metrics

Software system failures severity metrics

Failures of maintenance services metrics

Software system availability metrics

Corrective maintenance productivity and effectiveness metrics

While corrective maintenance productivity relates to the total of human resources invested in
maintaining a given software system, corrective maintenance effectiveness relates to the resources
invested in correction of a single failure. In other words, a software maintenance system displaying
higher productivity will require fewer resources for its maintenance task, while a more effective
software maintenance system will require fewer resources, on average, for correcting one failure.

Explain why statistical analysis method is required for software quality metric
results.
Being a branch of science, Statistics incorporates data acquisition, data interpretation, and data
validation, and statistical data analysis is the approach of conducting various statistical operations,
i.e. thorough quantitative research that attempts to quantify data and employs some sorts of
statistical analysis. Here, quantitative data typically includes descriptive data like survey data and
observational data. In the context of business applications, it is a very crucial technique for business
intelligence organizations that need to operate with large data volumes.

The basic goal of statistical data analysis is to identify trends, for example, in the retailing business,
this method can be approached to uncover patterns in unstructured and semi-structured consumer
data that can be used for making more powerful decisions for enhancing customer experience and
progressing sales. Apart from that, statistical data analysis has various applications in the field of
statistical analysis of market research, business intelligence (BI), data analytics in big data, machine
learning and deep learning, and financial and economic analysis.

Significance of data under statistical data analysis

Data comprises variables which are univariate or multivariate, and extremely relying on the number
of variables, the experts execute several statistical techniques. If the data has a singular variable
then univariate statistical data analysis can be conducted including t-test for significance, z test, f
test, ANOVA test- one way, etc. And if the data has many variables then different multivariate
techniques can be performed such as statistical data analysis, or discriminant statistical data
analysis, etc. Here, the variable is a characteristic, changing from one individual trait of a population
to another trait. The image below shows the classification of data-variables.

Data is of two types, continuous data and discrete data. The continuous data cannot be counted and
changes over time, e.g. the intensity of light, the temperature of a room, etc. The discrete data can
be counted and has a certain number of values, e.g. the number of bulbs, the number of people in a
group, etc.

Under statistical data analysis, the continuous data is distributed under continuous distribution
function, also known as the probability density function, and the discrete data is distributed under a
discrete distribution function, also termed as the probability mass function.

Data can either be quantitative or qualitative. Qualitative data are labels or names that are
implemented to find a characteristic of each element, whereas quantitative data are always in the
form of numbers that intimate either how much or how many.

Under statistical data analysis, cross-sectional and time-series data are important. For a definition,
cross-sectional data are the data accumulated at the same time or relatively the same point in time,
whereas, time-series data are the data gathered across certain time periods.

Statistical Data Analysis Tools

Generally, under statistical data analysis, some form of statistical analysis tools are practised that a
layman can’t do without having statistical knowledge. Various software programs are available to
perform statistical data analysis, these software include Statistical Analysis System (SAS), Statistical
Package for Social Science (SPSS), Stat soft and many more.

These tools allow extensive data-handling capabilities and several statistical analysis methods that
could examine a small chunk to very comprehensive data statistics. Though computers serve as an
important factor in statistical data analysis that can assist in the summarization of data, statistical
data analysis concentrates on the interpretation of the result in order to drive inferences and
prophecies.